Firearms

News about Firearms, including commentary and archival articles published in The New York Times.

Chronology of Coverage

Jul. 30, 2015

Florida chapter of Council on American-Islamic Relations files federal suit against Florida Gun Supply of Inverness, store that had declared itself Muslim-free zone. MORE

Jul. 16, 2015

Off-duty police officer in Bronx is attacked by man who steals department-issued handgun from her purse; assault illustrates why officers are told not to carry weapons in anything other than holsters on their bodies. MORE

Jul. 15, 2015

Gun possession indictment against John Hooper is vacated, latest case to be dismissed in ongoing investigation into gun arrests by several police officers in Brooklyn's 67th precinct; Hooper files federal civil rights lawsuit against officers Gregory Jean-Baptiste and Edward Babington and New York City. MORE

Jul. 13, 2015

Brooklyn teenagers Jordan Lewis and Aakif Murray remain in stable condition after being shot at West Indian music festival in Mount Prospect Park; are believed to have been bystanders hit by stray bullets. MORE

Jul. 5, 2015

Green Bay Packers tight end Andrew Quarless is arrested for allegedly discharging firearm in public. MORE

Jun. 28, 2015

Jeff Sommer Strategies column examines business ethics of investments in firearm stocks in wake of Charleston, SC, massacre; observes that gun manufacturers have seen enormous rise in profits despite push toward divestment and gun control in wake of similar strategies; notes that many large pension and 401(k) funds maintain gun holdings, and that investors will have to specifically opt out of such portfolios should they feel morally obliged to do so. MORE

Jun. 15, 2015

New York prosecutors will defer charges while investigation continues into man who inadvertently discharged gun at wedding reception at the Waldorf Astoria hotel; Vladimir Gotlibovsky was initially charged with reckless endangerment, assault and evidence tampering. MORE

Jun. 14, 2015

Guest at wedding reception in Manhattan's Waldorf Astoria Hotel accidentally discharges a gun in the hotel's lobby, injuring five people; police officials describe all injuries as minor and say three people have been questioned in incident. MORE

Jun. 2, 2015

Shootings in New York City have been increasing for two years, with 98 of 135 killings through May 2015 involving a gun; 439 shootings so far in 2015 is 20 percent higher than same period 2014; rise in violence is reigniting issue for Mayor Bill de Blasio, who is at odds with rank-and-file police officers. MORE

May. 19, 2015

Supreme Court ruling gives qualified immunity to two San Francisco police officers who shot mentally ill woman in 2008; votes 5-to-4 against state of Maryland in case involving collection of taxes from residents for income earned in other states; unanimously rules that gun owners who lose possession of firearms after felony convictions can have say in disposition of weapons; unanimously votes to tighten rules on filing fees for federal prisoners filing lawsuits. MORE

May. 16, 2015

Investment firm Cerberus Capital, owner of Remington Outdoor, has failed to find buyer for gun maker and will let its investors sell their stakes in company; Remington makes rifle used in deadly 2012 school shooting in Newtown, Conn; company will be moved out of its funds and into special financial vehicle. MORE

May. 7, 2015

Cody Wilson, Texas man ordered by State Dept to remove his plans for a 3-D printable gun from Internet, files suit against department claiming that order violates his free speech rights; suit poses new quandary for free speech law. MORE

May. 6, 2015

Gun believed to have been used by Demetrius Blackwell in killing of New York City Police Officer Brian Moore is found to have been stolen from Little’s Bait & Tackle Pawn Shop in Perry, Ga, in 2011; gun used in 2014 killing of Officers Wenjian Liu and Rafael Ramos also came from Georgia, but had been purchased there legally; examples illustrate how Southern states with lax gun laws are source of many illegal firearms that turn up in New York City. MORE

Apr. 21, 2015

Supreme Court justices hear second round of arguments in case concerning Samuel J Johnson, white supremacist from Minnesota who pleaded guilty to gun possession charge and was sentenced to 15 years because of two earlier convictions for violent felonies; Johnson's attorneys argue that simple possession conviction should not count as third offense, thus mandating higher sentence, under law's definition of violent felonies. MORE

Apr. 10, 2015

Real estate scion Robert Durst pleads not guilty in New Orleans to charges of possessing handgun following felony conviction and possessing both firearm and illegal substance. MORE

Apr. 9, 2015

Robert A Durst will remain in psychiatric jail outside New Orleans following indictment on gun charges; Louisiana case will continue to play out as California prosecutors expand investigation into what they believe was Durst's execution-style murder of friend Susan Berman in Los Angeles in 2000. MORE

Mar. 28, 2015

Judge Allyne R Ross of Federal District Court in Brooklyn sentences brothers Rex and Wilfredo Maralit to three years in prison for smuggling military-grade weapons to Philippines between January 2009 and September 2013; brothers used their official roles in law enforcement to facilitate illegal gun trade; Rex Maralit was New York City police officer at the time of the smuggling operation. MORE

Mar. 17, 2015

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio announces start of pilot program called ShotSpotter that pinpoints location of gunfire and sends information to Police Department. MORE

Feb. 19, 2015

Lawmakers in 10 states seeking to pass bills for so-called campus carry laws, which would legalize carrying firearms at colleges, are arguing that female students should be armed to help counter campus sexual assault; opponents claim that pro-gun lawmakers are exploiting issue that has come into national spotlight for their own agenda, and say plan is not likely to protect women and would increase gun-related accidents. MORE

Feb. 2, 2015

Peshawar Journal; police in Peshawar, Pakistan, are offering voluntary firearms instruction to school teachers and university lecturers after Taliban massacred 150 people at Peshawar school in December 2014; gun ownership is common in Pakistan, but idea of arming teachers with guns makes many parents uneasy. MORE

Jan. 18, 2015

News Analysis; Transportation Security Administration has reported 20 percent increase in number of gun confiscations at airport checkpoints in 2014, 230 percent increase from 2005; trend is attributed to both fact that more states allow concealed-carrying of firearms and that many more Americans have chosen to buy guns in response to mass shooting incidents. MORE

Jan. 16, 2015

Gun-possession charges filed against Brooklyn resident Jeffrey Herring are dismissed following investigations revealing suspicious practices among police officers at 67th Precinct in East Flatbush; Herring's claims that officers planted gun on him are mirrored by several similar cases. MORE

Jan. 16, 2015

Atty Gen Eric H Holder Jr calls for better systems to track number of times police officers across country are fired at or fire their weapons; says better data would help to quantify number of injuries and deaths that occur at hands of police officers, as well as attacks on police, in effort to help restore trust between law enforcement and American public. MORE

Jan. 11, 2015

New York Jets running back Chris Johnson is arrested for carrying a firearm in Florida. MORE

Jan. 9, 2015

Editorial calls for airport workers to be required to pass through metal detectors on way to job; points to disclosure that gun-running baggage handler in Georgia was able to smuggle 153 firearms in accomplice's carry-on bag on 17 Delta flights from Atlanta to New York during seven-month period; criticizes fact that passengers, pilots and flight crews must be screened, but workers are not. MORE

Jan. 6, 2015

Joe Sharkey On the Road column observes Transportation Security Administration screeners found 2,201 guns in passengers' carry-on bags in 2014, up 21 percent from 2013; points out recent gun-smuggling plot at Atlanta airport illustrates problem of easy access to secure areas of airports by employees who bypass security. MORE

Dec. 31, 2014

Veronica Jean Rutledge is accidentally shot dead by her two-year-old son in Idaho Walmart; authorities say toddler found loaded gun in Rutledge's purse and it discharged once. MORE

Dec. 30, 2014

Joe Sharkey On the Road column underscores egregious security breach at Hartsfield-Jackson Atalanta International Airport that allowed airline employee Mark Q Henry to board plane bound for New York with 16 firearms concealed in backpack; says incident raises questions about New York City Police Dept investigation into arms smuggling operation, which had targeted Henry as suspect but had no idea he was bringing guns on board planes. MORE

Dec. 25, 2014

Handgun used by Ismaaiyl Brinsley to kill two New York City police officers was last legally sold in 1996 at Arrowhead Pawn Shop in Georgia, one of top sellers of guns that end up in city; investigators hope to trace gun's history and find out how it came into possession of Brinsley, convicted felon with history of mental illness who would not have been able to buy it legally. MORE

Dec. 21, 2014

Jay Caspian Kang First column submits that legislation aimed at expanding laws mandating bright orange markings on replica guns will do little to prevent incidents like fatal police shooting of Tamir Rice in Cleveland; says children will continue to remove such markings, and suggests that focus on regulation serves to excise deaths of Rice and John Crawford III from the larger conversation on race and policing. MORE

Dec. 19, 2014

Office of New York State Atty Gen Eric T Schneiderman warns major retailers to mind state law banning sale of realistic-looking toy guns unless they have orange stripe on barrel. MORE

Dec. 16, 2014

Justice Dineen Riviezzo of State Supreme Court in Brooklyn grants prosecutors' request to adjourn gun case against Jeffrey Herring until January, while New York Police Dept examines series of questionable gun arrests made by group of Brooklyn police officers. MORE

Dec. 12, 2014

Brooklyn prosecutors will re-evaluate case involving 2013 arrest of Jeffrey Herring in East Flatbush on weapons charge based on tip from informer; decision follows probe noting such similar details in other gun arrests in 67th Precinct that pattern of police misconduct is suggested; defense has filed court papers suggesting some officers, possibly motivated by department quotas, have invented informers and made false arrests. MORE

Dec. 5, 2014

Panel of Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in California reinstates criminal indictments of two men who were caught in drug-and-gun sting operation; overturns district court ruling that federal agents had engaged in illegal conduct. MORE

Dec. 2, 2014

Howard Blumenthal of Fort Lee, NJ, is fined $5,000 after pleading guilty to trying to sell smuggled firearms believed to have been owned by members of Saddam Hussein’s family; faces up to five years in prison. MORE

Nov. 29, 2014

Centennial Gun Club in Denver is part of wave of luxury gun clubs popping up near urban centers across United States, modeled after country clubs to appeal to women, city dwellers and people who did not grow up in gun-owning households; new facilities are response to growing interest in the sport. MORE

Nov. 27, 2014

Thirteen-year-old Gama Droiville of Brooklyn is one of about 1,000 people who survived being shot in New York City in 2014; caught in crossfire of gunfight in Flatbush, and shot once in right eye and once in back of head, Droville and his family recount how incident profoundly changed their lives. MORE

Nov. 25, 2014

Cleveland police report that toy gun held by 12-year-old Tamir Rice was 'indistinguishable' from a real weapon; Rice was fatally shot by police officer after he reached into his waistband for what officer thought was live firearm. MORE

Nov. 21, 2014

Secret Service arrests Michigan woman April Lenhart outside White House for possessing firearm and ammunition, in second such incident in as many days. MORE

Nov. 8, 2014

Michael Wilson Crime Scene column on Eileen Lagala, Staten Island mother who plead guilty to trespassing, misdemeanor that carries no jail time in case connected to her son Anthony Lagala Jr's drug-and-gun trafficking ring; authorities believe Eileen Lagala remotely erased contents of her son's iPhone, which was being held as evidence, but she claims she only wanted to shut phone off. MORE

Oct. 29, 2014

Former major league slugger Jose Canseco accidentally shoots himself in the hand at his Las Vegas home. MORE

Sep. 18, 2014

Protesters in Albuquerque, NM, have been agitating for weeks about six-day police marksmanship tournament being sponsored by National Rifle Association; some people wonder if such an event is appropriate in city under pressure over fatal police shootings of civilians. MORE

Sep. 3, 2014

Report released by Mohave County Sheriff’s Office in Arizona says parents of young girl who accidentally shot firearms instructor Charles Vacca did not immediately realize what had happened; they rushed to comfort their daughter and only after another instructor went to Vacca did they realize he was shot in head; parents then took daughter and her siblings away from scene. MORE

Aug. 31, 2014

Op-Ed article by Prof Gregory Orr describes returning to memory of killing his younger brother in hunting accident after reading about New Jersey girl who lost control of submachine gun at shooting range in Las Vegas, killing her instructor; expresses hope that the young girl has someone she can turn to who can give her the courage to endure her grief and guilt. MORE

Aug. 29, 2014

Coroner reports that firearms instructor Charles Joseph Vacca Jr, who died in an Uzi shooting by a 9-year-old girl in Arizona, suffered single gunshot to the head. MORE

Aug. 28, 2014

Cellphone video images of 9-year-old girl losing control of Uzi submachine gun at a shooting range in Arizona, accidentally shooting and killing instructor Charles Vacca, spark worldwide controversy; some gun owners are defending the legal and commonplace practice of letting children use firearms at firing ranges, while others insist practice must be reconsidered in light of Vacca's death. MORE

Aug. 27, 2014

Arizona shooting instructor Charles Vacca is accidentally shot and killed while showing a 9-year-old girl how to use an automatic Uzi. MORE

Aug. 18, 2014

Weekend shootings throughout New York City kill two people and injure 12. MORE

Aug. 16, 2014

The Upshot; hunting excursion shared by Pres John F Kennedy and Vice Pres Lyndon Johnson at Johnson's Texas ranch shortly after their 1960 election victory continues to be the subject of disputed interpretations; author William Manchester insisted that Kennedy was scarred by the act of taking a life, while Johnson claimed that Kennedy was enthusiastic about the hunt; incident foreshadowed later cultural clashes over firearms and hunting. MORE